hearing imbalance



I got into hi fi last year and loving every minute of it and constantly upgrading my system. However, I noticed that most music I listen to lean slightly to the left. I thought it was room acoustics or the stereo recording (since strings in an orchestra are on the left). However, it seems my left ear has better hearing than my right ear especially with high frequency (just plugged one ear at a time and tested). This is very unnerving as I can't enjoy music fully, is this common for many people? How do you go around these problems?
plaser

Showing 1 response by dcstep

It's great that you resolved it. I've got close to a 10dB difference and I understand that's quite common. I've found that it's had little impact on my enjoyment of music.

What's really interesting is that accupucture has recently been improving it after decades of problem. I went to a new internist last summer and it was disclosed again in part of the normal testing. The testing included a pressure test that showed that my right ear (the problem one) didn't release pressure as it should. This means that the eustacian tube is not fully open. He gave me nasal sprays and some antihistimines, but nothing really changed.

Next thing, I go to an accupucturist for back pain and she asks me if I have any other issues, so I mention the ear. She says, "I think that I might help that." So, I've got needles all over (about 30) including a couple behind the right ear. In the middle of the very first treatment the ear pops and starts to clear. It's gotten steadily better.

Amazing. BTW, the back pain went away after two accupuncture treatments after months of no help from drugs and chiropracty.

Dave